11 June 2013

Bamboo on charkha

A couple of years ago I purchased a charkha wheel as a toy present to me.
The first attempts were... disappointing.
I had found very little in the way of directions and advice and most of it was for the fancy American-made charkha with ball bearings and all. Mine is Indian made, came wrapped in Sanskrit newsprint (which I have saved for future crafting possibilities).
I had decided to spin some bamboo fibre that I had dyed and prepared in several punis in gradual colour changes. The fibres are longer than cotton and thus more forgiving of my main sin: insufficient twist.

I decided that by the end of the bamboo I would have learnt how to spin. I did.

 

I have finished spinning the last of the punis and I started spinning a bit of cotton and it looks good and, in fact, much easier than the bamboo.


All I have to do now is decide what I will do with it.
 

 I am happy with the result but I know I will not trust to knit it by itself. It could become the weft of a scarf, maybe in satin wave to show off the shininess.
Or I could knit it with another thread (for support).